Healthy tree found peeled like a banana in Alabama. A hungry predator is to blame

A good-sized tree was found peeled like a banana in Alabama, and it didn’t take long before social media commenters were blaming everything from Bigfoot to a rougaroux.

However, this has happened before in the state and wildlife experts were quick to offer a sensible explanation: It was a hungry bear.

“In the springtime, hungry bears will sometimes strip trees in order to access the carbs in the sapwood,” according to the Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division.

“This is not the same as rubbing/scratching/scent marking a tree, as stripping for food is a much more deleterious action and girdled trees like this give their lifeblood to the bear and won’t survive.”

The stripped tree was found in Randolph County, near the Georgia state line, and it was the landowner who contacted the state, the division said in a Facebook post.

A wildlife officer came to look and shared photos of a tree stripped clean of its bark and riddled with claw marks. The discarded bark could be seen littering the ground around it.

Finding naked trees in the state is a seasonal occurrence, and homeowners should not expect it to keep happening, officials said.

“This time of year, bears are moving throughout the state — foraging on the go and vacuuming up a variety of invertebrates, small vertebrates, and plant matter from the forest floor,” the division said. “They’re typically just passing through.”

Hundreds of people have reacted to the division’s Facebook post, including some who offered alternative guesses (what about beavers?).

Others questioned where such ravenous bears were headed, if they’re “just passing through.” The state didn’t say, though.

“Scary!” Michelle Harmon Taylor posted. “Bears are beautiful but I never want to be close to anything that can do this to a tree!”

This story was originally published May 2, 2022 at 1:07 PM with the headline "Healthy tree found peeled like a banana in Alabama. A hungry predator is to blame."